The present disclosure relates generally to mobile devices, and in particular to techniques for using mobile devices to model crowds of people.
Computers and other electronic devices can communicate with each other over networks such as local area networks, wide area networks, and the Internet. Mobile devices such as cell phones, including so-called smart phones, can communicate with each other wirelessly over a variety of wireless networks including 3G and 4G networks. Such mobile devices also can communicate over the Internet with remote servers using protocols such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Internet Protocol (IP), and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
Users of such mobile devices occasionally find themselves within crowded locales with many other users of such mobile devices. For example, an airport may be populated with a multitude of people moving around from location to location within the airport. Many of these people may be mobile device users. People within crowded locales may often find themselves waiting in lines. Although these people can often use their mobile devices in order to determine where they are currently located, and/or to determine a time at which their flights are scheduled to depart, the dynamic nature of the lines in which these people wait can make it difficult for them to determine how long it will probably take for them to get through those lines.